LONDON, ENGLAND, December 2, 2007: Women can give their children a lifelong taste for healthy foods simply by eating them during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, researchers have found.
“Flavors from the mother’s diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother’s milk. A baby learns to like a food’s taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis,” said Julie Mennella of Monell Chemical Senses Center, a research institute in Philadelphia. The technique can work for a variety of vegetables. In one experiment Mennella gave carrot juice to a group of pregnant women and to a separate group of breastfeeding women. Their babies were subsequently far keener on carrots than those born to women who had not been given carrot juice. A similar experiment with fruit showed that babies whose mothers ate raw peaches while breastfeeding were far more willing to accept them in their own food.